Un essai de mesure de la contribution des budgets des pays membres à la cohésion européenne

A Trial Measurement of the Contribution of Member Countries' Budgets to European Cohesion by Laurent Davezies This paper presents a preUminary trial measurement, based on a common methodology, of the interregional income transfers resulting from seven European countries' budgets in 1993. A new methodology is proposed, presented and appUed. We find that the national budgets are the main instrument for European interregional cohesion, weU ahead of the Union budget. We also find uneven redistributive effects across the countries studied, which means that European regions with comparable development levels are treated unequally by the pubUc redistributive mechanisms. We conclude with the economic and poUtical implications of this national fragmentation of cohesion mechanisms in Europe.